The 1999 United Kingdom Budget, officially known as Budget 99: Building a Stronger Economic Future for Britain was the formal government budget for the year 1999.

Background

The budget took place during a period of continuing economic expansion, shortly after the launch of the

Euro The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...

currency on 1 January 1999, and at the tail end of the

dot-com bubble The dot-com bubble (dot-com boom, tech bubble, or the Internet bubble) was a stock market bubble in the late 1990s, a period of massive growth in the use and adoption of the Internet. Between 1995 and its peak in March 2000, the Nasdaq Compo ...

. During 1998, net public sector debt stood at £361.2 billion, 35.6 per cent of GDP. Interest rates had declined rapidly over the previous twelve months from a peak of 7.5 per cent in June 1998 to 5.5 per cent by February 1999, whilst inflation during 1998 was recorded at 1.6 per cent (CPI) and 3.4 per cent (RPI).

Budget measures

A new starting rate of

income tax An income tax is a tax imposed on individuals or entities (taxpayers) in respect of the income or profits earned by them (commonly called taxable income). Income tax generally is computed as the product of a tax rate times the taxable income. Tax ...

at 10 per cent was to be introduced in April 1999. Basic rate income tax was to be reduced from 23 per cent to 22 per cent in April 2000. The budget also abolished the married couple's allowance for under-65s and MIRAS mortgage interest relief from April 2000.

Child tax credit A child tax credit (CTC) is a tax credit for parents with dependent children given by various countries. The credit is often linked to the number of dependent children a taxpayer has and sometimes the taxpayer's income level. For example, in t ...

was to be introduced and employer

national insurance contributions National Insurance (NI) is a fundamental component of the welfare state in the United Kingdom. It acts as a form of social security, since payment of NI contributions establishes entitlement to certain state benefits for workers and their famil ...

cut by 0.5 per cent from April 2001. Stamp duties on property were to be raised. A

Climate Change Levy The Climate Change Levy (CCL) is a tax on energy delivered to non-domestic users in the United Kingdom. Scope and purpose Introduced on 1 April 2001 under the Finance Act 2000, it was forecast to cut annual emissions by 2.5 million tonnes ...

was scheduled for the 2001-02 fiscal year.

Details

Tax Revenue

Spending

References

{{United Kingdom budget Budget United Kingdom budgets

United Kingdom budget The Budget of His Majesty's Government is an annual budget set by HM Treasury for the following financial year, with the revenues to be gathered by HM Revenue and Customs and the expenditures of the public sector, in compliance with government p ...

March 1999 events in the United Kingdom Gordon Brown